The Fridges of Madison Country

I’m getting fed up of desks. They are everywhere. Every single office I go into, there is another desk. Except, these aren’t offices any more. They are rooms, and will – one day, in the long distant future – be part of the house.

Take a desk, any desk. Please...

However the builders left behind dozens of desks, in the rather optimistic hope that someone would want them. Or possibly because they couldn’t be bothered to get rid of them. Either way, the house is desk a go-go.

However, I need more space – particularly because I want to get cracking on bathroom, and to do that I need to make a laundry, which at the moment is doing a good impression of a garden shed, being, as it is, rammed full of bikes, lawnmowers, a BBQ, and even, yes, a spade.

So, this lot goes into the office which for want of a better word is being called the junk room. And that in turn means that all the junk has to go. Including the 10 or so desks in there at the moment.

I did briefly consider sawing them up for logs: it is the onset of winter after all. However wiser councils prevailed and I’ve now gone for the wonder of a Council Cleanup Day.

In Australia there isn’t really such a thing as the local council tip. Instead, they’ll charge you if you turn up with Range Rover loaded to the gunnels with desks. Or any household junk you name. Which is why you often see abandoned fridges by the side of the road all over the counties in the Hills: it costs too much money in Sydney to be tidy. However twice a year you can ask the council to come around to your home, and clear away the rubbish. Which is what I’ve done. Now the desk are on the street, awaiting a little man from the council.